The trouble with the Greens is that they never discuss high immigration, like all the other major parties. Only the Sustainable Party has a clear policy on reducng immigration.

Syd Hayman: Could the Greens be the sensible choice?

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! He's got to be kidding eh.

The Irish had the right idea, when they created the celtic economic miracle via the simple expediency of investing in their own folks and their better ideas, then went into self destruct mode by throwing open the domestic housing market to foreign debt laden speculation.[And doesn't that have a familiar ring?

German voters trusted the Greens with the unfettered access, as the first and only green government, to the levers of Europe's strongest economy and watched as it was almost destroyed!

Their activities have already shut down much of the commercial aspects and promise of the Great barrier Reef and created conditions in our native forests, that had no other possible result, than a hugely destructive fire storm!

SENSIBLE CHOICE!?

Simply put, the Great Barrier Reef is a submerged mountain range topped with numerous coral reef systems and is not as portrayed, a single reef system that is so large it can be seen from outer space.

Look, the Great dividing range a is similar mountain range that can also be seen from outer space; and ditto the manmade Great wall of china.

The fact the "reef" can actually be seen form outer space, as a merged conglomerate of multiple reefs, may indicate how vast its potential(Locked away) resources could be?

Yes, borrow or use the printing presses to create more paper, just not the way a lunatic lead Zimbabwe did! (The Green economic plan?)

But rather use it to build stuff that will still be earning a handsome and growing return when this commenter's grandkids are pushing up the daisies; and includes visionary projects like an inland canal, very fast trains plying our eastern seaboard and the long delayed range crossing in southern inland Q'ld.

In other words just get on with as much income earning big idea projects, (an absolute must)commercial development as we can!

And if we must borrow, use hugely popular elsewhere, but as yet untried here, self terminating, 30 year, government guaranteed, development bonds that could raise all the development capital we need; and without ever surrendering control or our economic sovereignty!
Rhrosty.

Ridiculous! The Greens are total idiots.

The greens have never been anything more than a party of protest and, as another poster has pointed out, have never shown themselves to be sensible, or even sane.

As for the writer's discussion of school funding, what he carefully neglects to mention is that the private school parents are paying $30,000 a year for a service they would be entitled to get for free. So if the government money spent on those private schools went into public schools, along with the students, and the parents saved their $30,000 would the public system be better or worse off?

After he does his sums, Mr Hickman may find out that just why no one is saying anything.

The Greens policy on government assistance to private schools can be shown to be totally ideological, and unrelated to the practical business of Government. This is, of course, to be expected from a minor party that has no fear that it would be required to actually implement the policies.

The problem is to secure the education of the nation's children; the sensible approach is to have the children properly educated at the least cost to the taxpayer. This would leave funds otherwise spent on education to be used on items such as health, defence or tax cuts.

This of course presumes that taxation is regarded as a necessary evil that should be levied as sparingly as possible. If you believe that taxation is good in itself, and that wasting vast sums of money is good even if it only drags down the wealthy, you would not agree.

The latest figures that I have been able to obtain from the Parliamentary Library are for the 2007/08 financial year and give the following figures for the total spent per student by all governments on education:

Spent per student in private schools: $6,607

Spent per student in government schools: $12,639

The obvious conclusion is that it pays government for students to be educated in private schools.

Much is made of the better facilities in private schools. However these facilities have been paid for by parents out of their after tax income. So What? Aren't they free to choose? Or is it that the lefties want a monopoly of access to the minds of the young?